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    Focus on Assessment: Cambridge IGCSE Geography (0460) (0976) 2020-2022 Syllabus

    DEMO COURSE

  • Please note: This is not a live course. If you have booked onto one of our courses, please follow the joining instructions that have been emailed to you.

    If you need any help please email info@cambridgeinternational.org



    Welcome to this demonstration course!

    This is a copy of the Focus on Assessment IGCSE Geography course. You will not be able to access any of the discussions or activities. However, this course will give you a good idea of what you will be doing on our online courses.

    To find out more about the courses we offer, please click on the button below.

    Chris Brown

    Head of Online Professional Learning 


    Course overview

    This three-week course is divided into four lessons. During each lesson we will be collaborating to identify key issues, engaging in discussions and asking questions. We will be focusing on the following areas:

      • Syllabus challenges - how we plan for these and measure the effectiveness of our interventions.
      • Understanding the marking principles and assessment structure.
      • Applying marking principles.
      • Using formative feedback to support student progress.

     

    Course timings

    This course starts on Monday. You can view all of the course content now, but you will only be able to access the discussions on the scheduled day from 00:05 UTC*. 

    You can access the content by using the buttons on the left-hand side of the screen.

    * Coordinated Universal Time (or UTC) is the time standard used globally. You can use this time and date converter to work out how UTC relates to your local time.

     

    M T W T F S S
    Week 1
    Lesson 1: Syllabus challenges Think Share
    Lesson 2: Understanding marking principles Think Share
    Week 2
    Lesson 3: Applying marking principles Think Mark Share Discuss
    Week 3
    Lesson 4: Formative feedback Think Share Refine
    Course review Reflect

  • Course information

    Please note: This is not a live course. If you have booked onto one of our courses, please follow the joining instructions that have been emailed to you.


     1 hour

    How the course works

    Before you start the course, you should familiarise yourself with what to expect during the course, how to make the most of your time, and the course completion criteria.

    • Course discussions and direct messaging

      Over the next three weeks, conversations will take place in discussion forums. You will find a separate discussion forum for each of the key theme(s). These discussions are a vital aspect of the course. You are expected to contribute regularly. I recommend that you try to check your messages every day to make sure that you keep up with the discussions. 

      The Course café is where I will contact you with information such as course deadlines, new materials, and urgent messages. The cafe is also for general discussions about the syllabus, your teaching or any other subject that you want to talk about.

      You can access the Course café and discussion forums from the sidebar.

      You have the ability to direct message other colleagues and your tutor. We would recommend that the only time you should use direct messaging is to contact your tutor if you have a personal issue that may affect your ability to complete the course. All other discussions and questions should be directed to the relevant discussion forums or the Course café. 

       

      Course completion

      Collaboration and reflection are key to effective learning. During this course you will be working closely with other teachers to develop your understanding and share ideas and experiences.  Reflection is key to relating knowledge to your own experience. In each lesson, there are questions to help you reflect on what you are have learned and how it relates to your own teaching experience.  In order to complete the course and receive your certificate, you must fully participate in the collaborative activities throughout the course.

      The course checklist in the sidebar shows your progress throughout the course. You are not expected to be online at particular times of the day, but you need to complete the activities within the week they are set. Failure to do this will mean that those activities will not be marked as complete.

      If you are going to be absent from the course for more than 2 days or cannot continue with the course, contact your tutor.


      New to online learning

      • If you are new to online learning, take a couple of minutes to read our guide to What is online learning?  to find out how to make the most of your time on this course 

      Moodle app

      Our workshops are not yet compatible with the Moodle App. However, our site is designed to be fully responsive and will work on mobiles/tablets in browser view mode. If your device prompts you to open the workshop in the app please ignore the request.

  • Before you start

    Please note: This is not a live course. If you have booked onto one of our courses, please follow the joining instructions that have been emailed to you.


     30 minutes

     Getting to know each other

    In this lesson, you will introduce yourself and get to know your colleagues and tutor.

    • Before we begin, take a moment to check your course profile is up to date.

        Update your course profile

      Adding a photo will make the course experience more personal and friendly. If for any reason you feel uncomfortable to use a picture of yourself, use any picture that represents you. For example, a picture of your school. Updating your email and discussion forum settings will make sure that you receive all the notifications about the course. 

      1. Add a picture of yourself
      2. Check your email settings
      3. Check your discussion forum settings

      Note: you can find full technical instructions on how to do this in the course handbook.

          Introduce yourself

        Go to the Introductions thread in the Course Café and post some information about you, your students, and your school and what you are hoping to get out of the course.

        For example: 

        • Where do you teach? How long have you been teaching? What age groups do you teach?
        • What type of school is it? How big is the school and how big are the classes? 
        • Do you have any interesting or unusual hobbies outside work? 
        • What do you hope you are going to learn in this course?

        Read your colleagues' posts, and see what else you have in common. Interact with your colleagues and respond to at least three posts.

         Group discussions.

        Throughout this course you will be working in small groups in order to facilitate collaboration and discussion. I have put you into groups and you will find the list of groups in the Course café.

    • Lesson 1

      Please note: This is not a live course. If you have booked onto one of our courses, please follow the joining instructions that have been emailed to you.


       4 hours

      Syllabus challenges

      In this lesson, we will explore the following questions:

      • How can we plan to teach challenging areas of the syllabus?
      • How do we know the interventions we have planned are effective?

      • We are now going to think about the areas that are most challenging to your students.  

          Think about the following questions and make some notes:

            • What elements of the syllabus do you find most challenging to teach?
            • Are these the same parts of the syllabus that your learners find challenging?
            • What makes these elements so challenging to teach or learn?


          Share your ideas 

        1. Share your ideas with your group in the Challenging areas group discussion.
        2. Read your colleagues' ideas:
            • Is there anything that is unclear? – Ask them.
            • Do you have any suggestions or advice? – Tell them.

         

          Refine your ideas

        1. Update your ideas based on your colleagues’ feedback, and the points below.
            • How are you planning to address the challenging areas you have identified?
            • What changes would you expect to see in your learners if your interventions are successful?
            • What will you do if the interventions you have planned do not result in the changes you expect?

        1. Post your completed work to the Challenging areas class discussion .

        If you have any questions or observations about any of the information in this lesson, please share them in the Challenging areas class discussion. 

    • Lesson 2

      Please note: This is not a live course. If you have booked onto one of our courses, please follow the joining instructions that have been emailed to you.


        1 hour

      Understanding the marking principles

      In this lesson, we will explore the following questions:

      • What is the assessment structure?
      • What key themes and challenges are identified by the Principal Examiners Report (PERT)?

      •   Review the assessment structure of the syllabus

        Let’s review the assessment structure of the syllabus.  You can find this information in the front of the syllabus.

        As you review each of the components, think about your learners:

        • Which of the components do your learners perform well in? 
        • Which do they find challenging? 

        A useful source of information on each component is provided in the Principal Examiner Report to Teachers (or PERT). These are available on the School Support Hub. 

        The PERT for each examination series includes reports for all time zone variants of the examination papers and all teacher assessed components. Each PERT identifies a number of key themes and challenges for learners and teachers to keep in mind during the IGCSE Geography course. 

         

          Read through the Principal Examiner Reports key messages

        1. Click on the link below to look at the key messages summarised from several Principal Examiner Reports

        2. Consider the areas that you feel are difficult to teach, or that your learners find difficult to understand. Make a note of these in your journal for general discussion later.

          PERT key messages

        You can find full PERTs for each year on the School Support Hub.

          Share your thoughts about the PERT key messages

        1. Working in your group in the Identifying key themes and challenges discussion , share your thoughts about the following points:

          • What themes did you see in the PERT key messages?
          • What areas of IGCSE Geography are difficult to teach, or my learners find difficult to understand?
          • Do you have any problems in common?
          • From your reading and your own experience, do you have any suggestions or advice for your colleagues?


            Getting ready to mark

        Now we have looked at the assessment structure and considered the role of the PERT we will review the mark schemes that you will be using in the next lesson. 

        1. Share your thoughts on the following points in the Marking activity class discussion

          • What elements of the mark scheme do you feel unsure about?
          • What questions do you have about marking scripts?

      • Lesson 3

        Please note: This is not a live course. If you have booked onto one of our courses, please follow the joining instructions that have been emailed to you.


          3 hours

         Applying marking principles

        In this lesson, we will explore the following questions:

        • What are the marking principles?
        • How are the marking principles applied?

        • As you have seen, the PERTs indicate key themes and challenges that the candidates have experienced. In this lesson you are going to mark some candidate scripts. Then you will work in your groups to produce a set of standardised marks. This will help you to better understand and apply the mark scheme.  Understanding the mark scheme will help you to advise your students on the type of response that is expected.

            Mark the scripts

          1. Download the question paper. mark scheme and candidate responses. 

          • Paper 1
            • Script A
            • Script B
            • Mark Scheme
          • Paper 2
            • Script C
            • Script D
            • Mark Scheme
          • Component 3
            • Script E
            • Script F
            • Mark Scheme
          • Paper 4
            • Script G
            • Script H
            • Mark Scheme

           

          1. Review the candidates' answers, and decide what marks you think should be awarded for each response.  Use the Excel spreadsheet  provided to record your marks.


            Marking standardisation - agree on a set of marks with your group

          Now that you have worked through the candidate scripts individually, it is time to work in your groups to come to an agreement on what the final mark for each candidate will be. To help us structure this discussion, you should keep to the timings you set within your group. When all groups have posted their marks, I will review your answers.

          1. Share your marks with your group in the Marking activity group discussion. Take time to look at what other colleagues have done and reflect upon your own marking.

              • Were there particular elements of the candidate scripts you all marked consistently?
              • Which parts of the scripts were most inconsistent?
              • Did a particular type of marking, e.g. level marking or point marking make the marking across your group more or less consistent?
              • Did you notice any other differences or similarities in your marking?

          1. As a group, work together to produce one set of marks for each script. Start with the script you all marked most consistently. Spend some time discussing why all of your marks were so close together in this instance. This will help you to agree on some marking principles. Use the following prompts to frame your discussions.

              • Where your marking was inconsistent, post in the discussion the reasons for this. Can you understand why? Was the mark scheme used differently amongst colleagues?
              • Is there any indicative content in the mark scheme to assess the level of the candidate work you have marked, and help you come to an agreed score?
              • Use the wording from the mark scheme to help explain your marking. This explicit use of the mark scheme helps to identify differences in approaches.  

           Share your group's marks with the whole class and review your answers

          1. Once you have come to an agreed set of marks for all the candidates, choose one person in your group to share your group's marks in the Marking activity class discussion. Don't forget to add the name of your group in the title of your post. I will post the actual answers in the forum once everyone has shared their marks.

          2. It is likely that the work you have been doing with your colleagues in your small groups has sparked many interesting conversations, and raised lots of questions. Post any questions or observations in the Marking activity class discussion and we and we will discuss any points of interest as a whole class.

      • Lesson 4

        Please note: This is not a live course. If you have booked onto one of our courses, please follow the joining instructions that have been emailed to you.


         4 hours

        Formative feedback

        In this lesson, we will explore the following question:

        • How can formative feedback support student progress?

        • In the last lesson you practiced marking some candidate scripts. In this lesson we are going to focus on one candidate's script to develop some formative feedback. We will then discuss the learner's performance and how you can use feedback to support their progress in your groups and then with the class.

          For the purpose of the following discussion we are going to focus on Script B. Look closely at their answer to question 1(c). The reason we are going to focus on this element of the script is that this answer demonstrates some of the key issues candidates have with this type of question.

            Consider what formative feedback you would provide.

          Now, take some time to review the candidate's script and consider what formative feedback you would give to the candidate.

          1. Write some notes on the following questions

            • What feedback would you provide to this candidate to help them improve?
            • Explain how this feedback would support their progress.
            • What classroom interventions would you have to put in place to ensure your feedback is effective?


          Make sure you are explicit about how and why this would support this learner's progress.

            Share your notes with your group

          1. Share your notes and explanations about formative feedback with your group in the Formative feedback group discussion. 

          2. Read your colleagues' ideas.

            • Is there anything that is unclear? – Ask them.
            • Do you have any suggestions or advice? – Tell them.

           

            Refine your formative feedback ideas

          1. Update your formative feedback ideas based on your colleagues’ suggestions. What will you do differently in the future?

          2. Post your completed work to the Formative feedback class discussion .

           If you have any questions or observations about any of the information in this lesson, please come and share them in the Formative feedback class discussion.


      • Course review

        Please note: This is not a live course. If you have booked onto one of our courses, please follow the joining instructions that have been emailed to you.


         1 hour

        Course review

        In this final lesson, we will explore the following questions:

        • What are the key learning points from the course and how have they addressed the main challenges faced by learners?
        • How will my practice look different, next week, month, and year?

        •   Course review 

          During the course we have explored the following questions:

          • What is the assessment structure?
          • What key themes and challenges are identified in the PERT?
          • What are the marking principles?
          • How are the marking principles applied?
          • How can formative feedback support student progress?
          • How can we plan to teach challenging areas of the syllabus?
          • How do we know that the interventions we planned were effective?

          Now we will take a moment to think about you will apply what you have learnt on this course.

            Think about how your understanding has developed on this course 

          Make some notes on the questions below.

          1. How has your understanding of teaching this syllabus developed during the course? Write a few sentences using this structure:

            • I used to think ...
            • Now, I think ...

             Create an action plan that will help you continue your development after the course

          1. How are you going to implement what you have learned in this course? How can you continue your development? Is there anything that you want to learn more about? Make a note of one or two things that you will try:

            • next week
            • next term
            • next year

          2. What support do you need to achieve these goals? Where can you find this support?

          3. How are you going to measure the impact of the changes that you make to your practice?

            Share your reflections and action plan with the class

          1. Post your responses to these questions in the Course reflection discussion.

          2. Take some time to review your colleagues' plans and offer any suggestions.

              • Do any of your colleagues have any goals that you think you would like to try?
              • Can you give each other any advice on how to get the support you need? 


            Complete the questionnaire (5 minutes) 

          Complete the questionnaire to help you reflect on and review your levels of understanding of the key topics in this course.

          The questionnaire will open in a new tab. 

          1. Open the questionnaire. Click 'Answer the questions'.

          2. Complete the questionnaire.

            Do you have any unanswered questions?

          Is there anything that was not answered on the course or you are not clear about?  Post your questions to the Course Café.